Overhead garage door



Aug. 6, 1935. w. FERRls 2,010,658

OVERHEAD GARAGE DOOR Filed Oct. 29, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 JYLU/QTZZOW:

mam/2 [@77 Aug. 6, 1935. w. o. FERRIS OVERHEAD GARAGE DOOR Filed Oct. 29, 19:52

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fizz/272107 K127171119 @QEW7 W Patented Aug. 6, 1935 OVERHEAD GARAGE DOOR William D. Ferris, Sterling, 111., assignor to Frantl Manufacturing 00., Sterling, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application October 29,

19 Claims.

This invention relates to garage doors, and more especially to overhead opening garage doors, whereby the door is disposed horizontally in an overhead position when the door is opened.

This is in the nature of an improvement on the construction shown and described and claimed in prior application No. 445,867, filed April 21, 1930.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction and arrangement whereby a door of this kind, upon being unlocked, will open into the overhead position thereof, with very little if any manual assistance, the mere'act of unlocking or unhooking the door being sufficient to start it on its upward movement, with the assistance of the springs provided for that purpose, into its overhead open position.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efficiency and the desirability of a garage door construction of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompany- .ing drawings, in which Fig. l is a vertical section of a garage door, and the adjacent parts of the building, embodying the principles of the invention, showing the doors in closed position.

Fig. 2 is an inside or rear elevation of said door, showing the middle portion thereof broken away for convenience of illustration, this view 35 being in effect a vertical section on line 2-2 in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the door in its overhead open position.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view, showing the positions of certain parts when the door is in closed position.

Fig. 5 is a similar view, showing the positions of these same parts when the door is in overhead r open position.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail horizontal section on line 66 in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a practically one-piece rigid door I, or a door which is rigid from side to side and from top to bottom thereof, said door having its upper corner portions provided with hangers 2 adapted to travel on the parallel horizontal tracks 3, suitably supported in an overhead position for this purpose.

The said door is preferably of a size to snugly fit 1932, Serial No. 640,143

the opening of the door frame or doorway l of thegarage or other building.

' Lever arms 5 are pivoted at 6 on the inner side of the door, near the lower corners thereof, and have their upper portions pivoted at l on the brackets 8 provided for this purpose. The upper ends 9 of the two lever arms are bent away from each other, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and these relatively short upper end portions of the levers are connected by coil springs ID with the hooks or other fastening devices II on the wall of the building. Preferably, the bolts i2 for the upper ends of these springs are adjustable along a series of holes I 3 in the upper end portion of each lever, thereby to vary the tension of the springs. When the door is pushed inwardly at its upper end, it gradually swings into a horizontal position, overhead, the springs I0 acting on the levers 5 in a manner to tilt the lower end of the door outwardly and upwardly, while the upper end of the door slides along the tracks 3 previously mentioned.

With the arrangement thus far described, the door would not start itself in its upward movement, and would require some manual assistance, and in order that the door may practically open automatically, auxiliary springs H are connected between brackets IS on the levers 5, at the upper ends of these springs, and the brackets IS on the sides of the doorway. With this arrangement, the springs l4, when the door is in closed position, are in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings, and are exerting their tension in a manner to swing the levers 5 outwardly on their pivots I and thereby start the door in its upward movement into open position. Preferably, as shown, links I! are provided to connect the springs M with the brackets l5, these links being pivoted on said brackets at i8, and the relative arrangement being such that the links I! normally extend outwardly, affording some leverage about the pivots i, but are adapted to hang down in the position shown in Figs.. 3 and 5 of the drawings, when the door is in overhead open position. This is because the inner ends of the links I! normally engage the edges of the levers 5, as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings, but are formed to disengage these edges when the door is in overhead open position. In this way, these springs M are normally in position to start pulling downward, in a manner to tilt the levers 5 about their pivots I, thereby to automatically start the upward movement of the door into open position, and to start this action it is only necessary to unlock or unhook the door. Obviously, devices of any suitable, known or approved character (not shown) can be provided for looking or latching or hooking the door in closed position. Therefore, as soon as the door is released by its lock or latch or hook devices, the springs I immediately function to start the upward movement of the door, far enough to permit the heavier springs ID to then assume the burden of pulling the door into its overhead open position. In this way, therefore, the opening of the door is practically automatic, or is brought about automatically by merely unlocking or releasing the door from its closed position.

The springs l4, itwill be seen, have screw connections l9, by which the tension of these springs can be changed or regulated, in any necessary or desired manner. In this way, and by adjusting the tension of the larger springs, a nice balance can be obtained, so to speak, which will enable the door to come down softly and gently into closed position, from its open position, without jolting or jarring, and with just enough developed pull on the part of the springs M to put the door in readiness to move upward again, but not enough to make it inconvenient or difficult to hold the door in closed position long enough to lock it, or hook it, or latch it in this position. But the normal tension under which the springs l4 are held will be sufficient, it will be seen, to start the upward movement of the door, as explained, immediately upon the releasing of the door from its closed position. When the door is in its open position, the springs l4 are practically under no tension. In addition, it will be seen that the links I! in effect provide a means forlengthening and shortening the leverage exerted by the springs M, for this leverage is longer when the door starts to open, than it is when the door starts to close. See Figs. 4 and 5 of the drawings. In Fig. 4, the door is in closed position, and the links I1 are extending outwardly horizontally, providing maximum leverage; whereas, in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the links H are hanging downward, and hence the leverage at this time is much less. Therefore, when the door starts to close, and while it is closing, the main lifting springs Ill serve to cushion or retard this closing movement, and when the door reaches closed position, these springs l0 are under maximum tension, but they are not in position to exert any lifting power. However, practically at the last moment, so to speak, of the closing movement of the door, the links I! straighten out, as shown in Fig. 4, automatically, and the springs M assume a tension that will be sufficient to start the door upwardly, but which is not sufficient to prevent the holding of the door in closed position long enough to lock it, or hook it, or latch it in place. And, the lifting leverage exerted by the springs l4 ceases quite promptly, and the main lifting springs It! then take up the work of completing the opening movement of the door.

Thus, it will be seen, all that is necessary is to unlatch or disconnect the door, when in its closed position, and it will then immediately start to rise with very little if any manual assistance, depending upon various factors, such as the adjustment of the springs and the accuracy of the construction, for the tension of the springs I4 is normally exerted through the arms 5 to push the lower end of the door outward.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the door is self opening, so to speak, being adapted to open automatically by merely unlatching it from its normal closed position. Preferably, one setof springs is employed for initially moving the door from its normal closed position, and another set of springs is employed for then continuing this opening movement until the door is fully opened, but the provision and arrangement of springs, for the purpose of automatically opening the door as soon as it is unlatched, may be of any suitable character, and may be changed or varied without departing from the spirit and essential feature of the invention, which is that spring power fully opens the door from its normal closed position merely by unlocking or unlatching or releasing the door from its normal closed position. In other words, the entire opening movement of the door is accomplished by spring power, and no part of the opening movement needs to be caused by manually lifting the door, as all that is necessary is to lift the latch or turn the key, and the door then moves automatically from its normal closed position into its overhead open position. Preferably, the door is of the rigid or one-piece type, but the construction of the door itself is, when the invention is considered in its broader aspects, comparatively unimportant. Any suitable door construction may be employed in conjunction with the automatically or self-opening feature having spring power of any suitable character for initially moving the door from its normal closed position, and for then completing the opening movement of the door into its fully open position.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In an overhead opening garage door con struction, a self-opening door held by the construction against any movement in its entirety in the vertical plane thereof, adapted when released to open from a vertical position into an overhead horizontal position, about a horizontal overhead traveling axis, spring means normally under tension and operative to lift the door into f its overhead position, having provisions whereby some of the spring tension is normally operative to cause the initial tilting movement of the lower end of the door, when the latter is unlatched from the normal or closed position thereof, but is ineffectual for the remainder of the opening movement, and whereby other spring tension which is normally in effect on center and therefore ineffectual is then effectual to complete the opening movement of the door, whereby the entire opening movement of the door is accomplished by spring power.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said spring means and provisions comprising two sets of springs, one set being the main springs for lifting the door into open position, normally ineffectual to start the opening movement of the door, and including auxiliary springs normally under tension and in position to cause said initial opening movement of the lower end of the door.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said spring means and provisions comprising two sets of springs, one set being the main springs for lifting the door into open position, normally ineffectual to start the opening movement of the door, and including auxiliary springs normally under tension and in position to cause said initial opening movement of the lower end of the door, there being means to prevent said auxiliary springs from interfering with the closing movement of the door, and said main springs being effectual to cushion the downward movement of the door into closed position.

4. A structure as specified in claim 1, said spring means and .provisions comprising a pair of'main liftin'g springs at each side of the doorway, and including also a pair of auxiliary springs d sposed at opposite sides of the doorway, said main lifting springs in their normal position being inoperative to start the opening movement of the door, said auxiliary springs in their normal position being operative to start the initial opening movement of the lower end of the door.

5. A structure as specified in claim 1, said spring means and provisions comprising a pair of main lifting springs at each side of the doorway, and including also a pair of auxiliary springs disposed at opposite sides of the doorway, said main lifting springs in their normal position being inoperative to start the opening movement of the door, said auxiliary springs in their normal position being operative to start the initial opening movement of the lower end of the door, there being means in effect for automatically lengthening and shortening the leverage exerted by said auxiliary springs, whereby there is maxi mum leverage of these springs during initial opening movement of the door, and practically no leverage thereof during the remainder of the upward movement of the door.

6. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a door frame defining an cpening, of a door, substantially horizontal guides adjacent the upper portion of said opening on which the upper end of the door is pivotally and slidably supported, and means at each side of the opening for guiding and supporting the lower end of the door for movement of the door from a vertical to a substantially horizontal elevated position, each said means comprising a lever pivotally supported on said frame for movement about an axis parallel to and adjacent the plane of the frame and opening, one arm of said lever being pivoted to the door adjacent the lower end of the latter, and a. tension spring connected between the other arm of the lever and the frame, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lift ing the door and cushioning the downward movement thereof, associated with said lever at each side of the door, the point of pivotal connection between the lever and the door being disposed substantially vertically above the point of pivotal support of the lever in the elevated position of the door.

7. Supporting means for doors of the type in which the upper portion of the door is supported on substantially horizontal guides permitting tilting and upward bodily movement of the door from a vertical to a substantially horizontal elevated position, comprising at each side of the doorway a lever pivoted for movement about a fixed axis parallel to and adjacent the plane of the door when the latter occupies the vertical position, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lifting the door and cushioning the downward movement thereof, associated with said lever at each side of the door, a pivotal connection between one end of the lever and the lower portion of the door, and a tension device acting between the opposite end of the lever and a fixed point adjacent the plane of the door, whereby the weight of the door is transmitted substantially vertically through the pivotal axis of said lever when the door occupies the upper, substantially horizontal position.

8. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a door frame defining an opening, of a door, substantially horizontal guides adjacent the upper portion of said opening on which the upper end of the door is pivotally and slidably supported, and means at each side of the doorway for guiding and supporting the lower end of the door for movement of the door from a vertical to a substantially horizontal elevated position.

said means comprising a lever pivotally supported on said frame for movement about an axis parallel to and adjacent the plane of the frame and opening, one arm of said lever being pivoted to the door adjacent the lower end of the latter, and a tension spring connected between the other arm of the lever and the frame at a point on the frame located below the point of pivotal support for the lever, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lifting the door and cushioning the downward movement thereof, associated with said lever at each side of the door, the point of pivotal connection between the lever and door being disposed substantially vertically above the point of pivotal support of the lever in the elevated position of the door.

9. In a closure device for a structural opening, the combination with a vertically disposed frame defining the opening, of a door, guide means fixed with respect to said frame and extending, inwardly of the opening adjacent the upper end thereof, means secured to the upper portion of the door for supporting the latter on said guide means for movement inwardly of the opening, a lever at each side of said opening pivoted intermediate its ends on said frame at a point adjacent the opening, one arm of said lever having an articulated connection with the lower portion of said door, and a tension device connected at one end to said frame adjacent the opening and at its other end to the free arm of said lever, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lifting the door and cushioning the downward movement.

thereof, associated with said lever at each side of the door, the length of the first named lever arm being such that the closure member and lever and tension devices approach a common vertical plane when the closure member is moved into vertical position in the opening or into the horizontal open position adjacent the upper portion of the opening.

10. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a door frame defining an opening, of a door, substantially horizontal guides adjacent the upper portion of said opening on which the upper end of the door is pivotally and slidably supported, and means for guiding and supporting the lower end of the door for movement of the door from a vertical to a substantially horizontal elevated position, said means comprising a rigid element pivotally supported on said frame for movement about an axis parallel to and adjacent the plane of the frame and opening, said element being pivoted to the door adjacent the lower end of the latter, and means including a. tension spring acting between said frame and said door, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lifting the door and cushioning the downward movement thereof, associated with said lever at each side of the door, the point of pivotal connection between the said element and ihe door being disposed substantially vertically above the point of pivotal support of the element on the frame in the elevated position of the door, said spring lying entirely outside of the opening measured laterally and to the rear of the frame in all positions of the door.

11. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a door frame defining an opening, of a door, substantially horizontal guides adjacent the upper portion of said opening on which the upper end of the door is pivotally and slidably supported, and means for guiding and supporting the lower. end of the door for movement of the door from a vertical to a substantially horizontal elevated position, said means comprising a rigid element pivotally supported on said frame for movement about an axis parallel to and adjacent the plane of the frame and. opening, said element being pivoted to the door adjacent the lower end of the latter, and means including a tension spring acting between said frame and said door, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lifting the door and cushioning the downward movement thereof, associated with said lever at each side of the door, the point of pivotal connection between the said element and the door being disposed substan ially vertically above the point of pivotal support of the element on the frame in the elevated position of the door, said spring being attached to the frame at the rear thereof and laterally of the opening.

12. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a door frame defining an opening, of a door, substantially horizontal guides adjacent the upper portion of said opening on which the upper end of the door is pivotally and slidably supported, and means for guiding and supporting the lower end of the door for movement of the door from a vertical to a substantially horizontal elevated position, said means comprising a rigid element at each side of said opening pivotally supported on said .frame for movement about an axis parallel to and adjacent the vertical plane of the frame and opening, said e ement being pivoted to the door adjacent the lower end of the latter, and means including a tension spring at each side of said opening acting between said frame and said door, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lifting the door and cushioning the downward movement thereof, associated with said element at each side of the door, the point of pivotal connection between the said element and the door being disposed inside of the vertical plane of the door and substantially vertically above the point ,of pivotal support of the element on the frame in the elevated position of the door, said spring being attached to the frame at the rear thereof and laterally of the opening, each spring being inside said vertical plane in the open position of the door, and in the closed position thereof.

13. In apparatus of the class described, the combination with a door frame defining an opening, of a door, substantially horizontal guides adjacent the upper portion of said opening on which the upper end of the door is pivotally and slidably supported, and means for guiding and supporting the lower end of the door for movement of the door from a vertical to a substantially horizontal elevated position, said means comprising a rigid element at each side of said opening pivotally supported on said frame for movement about an axis parallel to and adjacent the vertical plane of the frame and opening, said element being pivoted to the door adjacent the lower end of the latter, and means including a tension spring at each side of said opening acting between said frame and said door, in combination with auxiliary spring means for assisting in lifting the door and cushioning the downward movement thereof, associated with said element at each side of the door, the point of pivotal connection between the said element and the door being disposed inside of the vertical plane of the door and substantially vertically above the point of pivotal support of the element on the frame inthe elevated position of the door, said spring being associated with said element and attached to the frame at the rear thereof, both the spring and said element being substantially vertically disposed inside of said vertical plane in the open position of the door, and in the closed position thereof, said door when open being substantially in the plane of said tracks.

14. In a garage door construction, a door mounted to open from its normal or closed position to an open position, by tilting motion about a horizontal overhead traveling axis, held by the construction against any movement in its entirety in the vertical plane thereof, adapted to be latched in closed position, and instrumentalities including springs normally under tension for initially tilting the door from its normally closed position, when unlatched, and other springs for fully opening the door, whereby the door opens when re leased from its normally closed position.

15. A structure as specified in claim 14, said springs comprising main springs for exerting their tension in a manner tending to move the door practically throughout the motion of the door, and auxiliary springs unde tension only during said beginning of the initial opening movement of the lower end of the door, said auxiliary springs being disposed between the main springs.

16. Means for moving a door from one position to another, when the door is unlatched, by tilting motion about a horizontal overhead travelling axis, comprising main springs for exerting their tension in a manner tending to move the door initially and practically throughout the entire opening motion of the door, but ineifectively so for the initial movement, and auxiliary springs having means whereby they effectively exert their tension only during the first portion of the tilting opening motion of the door, but not for the balance of said movement.

17. Means for moving a door from one position to another, when the door is unlatched, comprising main springs for exerting their tension in a manner tending to move the door initially and practically throughout the entire opening motion of the door, but ineffectively so for the initial movement, and auxiliary springs having means whereby they effectively exert their tension only during the first portion of the opening motion of the door, but not for the balance of said movement.

18. In garage door construction, the combination of a door rigid from top to bottom thereof, an overhead horizontal track for the upper end of the door, and instrumentalities including leverage and springs, one at each side of the door, spaced apart to provide a passage between them for a motor vehicle, for assisting in raising the door into horizontal open position, and for cushioning the downward opening movement of the door, having mechanical adjusting means for changing the tension and leverage of said springs, for different doors, and other springs acting through said leverage to assist in the initial opening of the door.

19. A structure as specified in claim 18, said adjusting means comprising a stud for one end of each of said first-mentioned springs, together with a leverage member for supporting each stud, each member having a plurality of holes for the stud.

WILLIAM D. FERRIS. 

